Samuel D. Hunter News

From today, March 7 through April 5, 2014, SpeakEasy Stage Company will present the New England premiere of the acclaimed Off-Broadway drama THE WHALE by Samuel D. Hunter.

Upon entering Hyde Park Theatre for a chick and a dude's current production of The Whale, you get several clues about the central character of Charlie. His apartment, designed by Michael B. Raiford, is absolutely disgusting. Pizza boxes and KFC buckets litter the floor, and the couch, which has seen better days, is propped up on cinder blocks. Between the set decoration and the title, one can guess that Charlie's going to be on the larger side, and he is. Thanks to an extraordinarily believable fat suit constructed by Kelly Ruiz, Charlie (Shanon Weaver) is a 600 pound man. But The Whale, which could easily be a play about a fat suit, has far more to it.

A BRIGHT NEW BOISE by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Mark Peckham will play DownStage at 2nd Story Theatre, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8PM, Sundays at 3PM - through March 30.

Playwrights Horizons, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, has announced the six productions of its 2014/2015 Season. The six works will be presented at the theater company's home at 416 West 42nd Street. In season order, they will be:

South Coast Repertory has announced an exciting lineup of shows from March to June. Check out the full linup below!

A BRIGHT NEW BOISE by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Mark Peckham, will play DownStage at 2nd Story Theatre, running tonight, February 28 - March 30, 2014.

Victory Gardens Theater presents the World Premiere of The Gospel of Lovingkindness by Victory Gardens Ensemble Playwright Marcus Gardley, directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew. The cast includes Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Tosin Morohunfola, Ernest Perry, Jr. and Jacqueline Williams. The Gospel of Lovingkindness runs tonight, February 28 - March 30, 2014, with the press performance on March 7, 2014, at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue.

Last night at Opening Night of Carson Kreitzer's Lasso of Truth, Marin Theatre Company's artistic director Jasson Minadakis and managing director Michael Barker announced the company's 2014-15 season programming today. Featuring six new plays by living contemporary playwrights in MTC's intimate 231-seat mainstage Boyer Theatre, the season includes:

Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith reveals the 2014/15 season lineup for the company's 65th season and fifth year in the Mead Center for American Theater. As a national center focused on showcasing American voices and artists, this season is designed with range through productions that are emotional, uplifting, funny and thought-provoking.

Experience something(s) new: Three world premiere productions and four new play readings during South Coast Repertory's 2014 Pacific Playwrights Festival, April 25-27.

Samuel D. Hunter's haunting Off-Broadway smash-tragicomedy The Whale will receive its fifth production worldwide in Austin TX-Spring 2014-following successful runs at The Denver Center, Victory Gardens, South Coast Rep, and Playwrights Horizons in NYC. Austin's own A Chick & A Dude Productions will present the show at Hyde Park Theatre (511 W. 43rd St.) Thursdays through Saturdays, today, February 20-March 15, 2014. Curtain at 8pm.

From March 7 through April 5, 2014, SpeakEasy Stage Company will present the New England premiere of the acclaimed Off-Broadway drama THE WHALE by Samuel D. Hunter.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will host 22 theatrical offerings from 20 different countries during WORLD STAGES: International Theater Festival 2014 that will run for three weeks March 10-30, 2014 throughout the Center. The international festival features contemporary theater works offering 13 fully staged productions, 4 theater-focused installations, 3 readings of new works, and 2 forums. From Olivier and Tony Award-winning puppetry to innovative perspectives on old classics, a diverse showcase of theatrical expression will be represented by countries spanning the globe including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, England, France, Iceland, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Pakistan, Palestine, Scotland, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, and the United States.

Seattle Repertory Theatre announced today six commissions that are in development as part of the New Play Program, including an adaptation of Kirsten Grind's bestseller The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual - The Biggest Bank Failure in American History.

Since the death of his boyfriend, morbidly obese 600 pound Charlie (who we're thrilled will be played by Nearly Naked Theatre Artistic Director Damon Dering) confined himself to his small Idaho apartment and is eating himself to death. With his health quickly failing, Charlie becomes desperate to reconnect with Ellie, his estranged and angry teenage daughter whom he has not seen in 17 years. He would give her anything: his love, his money...maybe even his life.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company's 35th anniversary season is one of inward and outward revolution, of daring and breakthroughs in style, content, process, and even international borders for the Company's biggest, most ambitious season yet!

The evening will be co-hosted by two of the company's alumni actors: two-time Tony Award winner David Hyde Pierce (at PH in Richard Greenberg's The Maderati in 1987) and two-time Tony Award nominee, two-time Obie Award winner and 2012 Special Drama Desk Award winner Mary Testa (at PH in William Finn's In Trousers in 1979, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Lucky Stiff in 1988, Tom Donaghy's From Above in 1998/Obie Award and Kathleen Tolan's The Wax in 2000).

Austin-based A Chick & A Dude Productions recently started an IndieGoGo campaign to fund their upcoming production of Samuel D. Hunter's Off-Broadway smash tragicomedy The Whale.

A BRIGHT NEW BOISE by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Mark Peckham, will play DownStage at 2nd Story Theatre, running February 28 - March 30, 2014.

A big hit with audiences during the 2006-07 season, James and the Giant Peach in 2014 will offer a memorable experience for new and returning playgoers as a part of SCR's Theatre for Young Audiences series. Casey Stangl, director of last season's Anastaisa Krupnik, returns to direct this adaptation by David Wood of the beloved children's book by Roald Dahl, James and the Giant Peach. The show runs tonight, Feb. 7-23 at South Coast Repertory on the Julianne Argyros Stage.